A Spring of Fear and Love
by Drexan
Summary: Set in the spring after my other story, 'A Winter of Death and Love'. An old foe comes back and sets his eyes on Jack and Tooth's newly found relationship. What will he do to get his revenge? And how will it the change the Guardians' lives?
1. Guess Who's Back

Guess Who's Back  
(Chapter 1)

A world without fear, without nightmares and without Pitch. A world where children can sleep worry free. A year ago, the Guardians fought the nightmare king to achieve a world like this. They knew Pitch would eventually be back, the world couldn't exist without fear, but for now they weren't worried.

But maybe they should be. Over the skies of Burgess, a small nightmare horse flew down into Pitch's lair. Coming to a stop on the cold floor of the room filled with cages, the nightmare waited.

Soon enough, nightmare sand started to seep into the room from everywhere. The horse lost his shape and fell back into sand, joining up with the rest. Out of the sea of darkness a sole figure started to emerge and eventually stood up, still covered in sand.

Then it stopped. The sand seemed to freeze as it made no sound and eventually started to fall from the figure to reveal the sickening grey skin, greasy black hair and bone chilling golden eyes of Pitch.

Even though he had just returned, the effects of his battle with the Guardians were showing. He had bags under his eyes, looked almost as pale as Jack and his powers had severely weakened.

With a wave of his hand, Pitch formed a throne out of the black sand and sat on it. Just that was enough to leave him breathless.

"Damn those Guardians. All I wanted was to drown the world with eternal nightmares. Is that too much to ask for?" Pitch asked.

Hearing his master, Onyx (The first nightmare horse he made from Cupcake's unicorn dream) rose from the sand and walked up to Pitch who scratched him.

"Don't worry my pet, we'll take over this blasted planet yet" Pitch reassured. "But first, I'll have to find a way to get back at Jack"

"Come my nightmares, show what has happened during my absence" Pitch commanded.

Following his order, the black sand approached Pitch and formed a screen in front of him, showing him all that happened the past year.

"WHAT? How dare he have a happy ending while I rot in this moon forsaken hole?" Pitch asked angrily. "Although, I did learn something interesting about Jack"

"Death. Now there's a face I haven't seen in centuries" Pitch said. "I'll have to pay her a visit sometime"

Pitch stood up and reformed his nightmare army.

"But first, we'll have to visit every children's happy dreams" Pitch added, commanding his army. "As well as the new couple"

* * *

'I can't wait'. Was all that Jack could think. With Tooth working 24/7, they usually didn't have time to go out together, but this time she had made an exception just for him.

Travelling as fast as he could, he easily flew around the world and arrived early, so he let himself into the palace. As he expected, right before their date she was still overexerting herself. She didn't even notice him coming in, due to how fast she was flying and talking. Jack didn't understand what she was saying, so he did the only thing he could to calm her down.

Without Tooth noticing, Jack silently flew up behind her and wrapped his ice cold arms around her waist and placed his hands on her stomach. Immediately, Tooth stopped talking and relaxed in his embrace while her mini-fairies applauded Jack for being able to silence her like that.

"What is this for?" She asked.

"You were stressing out" He answered. Any other than Tooth would shiver at contact with Jack, but since reason lived in a warmer climate contact with him only cooled her down.

"And what do I owe this visit to?" She asked, turning around.

"Don't you remember we are going out today" Jack answered.

"Jack, it's nowhere near the end of spring yet" She said, turning around to look at him.

"Actually, it is. Easter was almost 2 months ago" He explained. "You even freaked out when I told you how much chocolate Jamie ate"

"WHAT?" She asked, flying away from Jack.

Once again she started to speak really fast about how much work she still had to do and other details that Jack couldn't understand due to her unbelievable talking speed. So, once again, he had to calm her down.

In the blink of an eye, Jack was now in front of Tooth and before she could say anything, he pressed his lips against hers. It didn't last too long, fust enough to calm Tooth down once more.

"You were talking way too fast again" Jack explained.

"I know, but what am I going to do?" She asked."I can't just leave the fairies alone"

"What about Baby Tooth? Didn't you make her your second in command?" Jack asked. "I'm sure she could handle it"

Hearing this, Baby Tooth immediately flew in front of Tooth and gave her the biggest puppy eyes she could make.

"I'm not sure. It would be the first time I would be leaving her alone with the others. Who knows what could happen" She said.

"It would be only for today. Besides she has proved she's responsible. Heck, if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have been able to beat Pitch" He said.

Tooth really wanted to go out with Jack. Everybody talked about how much she overworked herself and about how much she needed a break and honestly… she agreed.

"Okay, I'll just go tell the fairies and then we can go" She agreed.

"You won't regret this" He said.

Tooth then flew away to a large group of fairies to tell them to spread the word. Meanwhile, Jack was talking to Baby Tooth.

"Thanks for the help Baby Tooth. This is probably the only way we can get her to take a break" Jack thanked.

As response Baby Tooth hugged Jack's cheek and went off to her work and after talking with her, Tooth came back.

"Well, I'm ready. Where are we going first?" Tooth asked.

"Relax Tooth. You'll see when we get there. After all, we can go anywhere we want" Jack answered.

"Then let's go" She said.

"Better get ready. After today, you'll wish you could have more days off" He said.

"I doubt that"

* * *

After a bit of flying, the couple finally reached their first destination. Jack had brought them to Brazil and at the right time too. As soon as they landed they saw a parade in the distance and Jack immediately tried to pull Tooth into it.

"Jack, I'm not so sure about this anymore" Tooth confessed.

"Relax Tooth. Baby Tooth as everything under control" Jack said. "Today is your day off, all you need to have some fun"

At that point, he created a single snowflake who flew straight against Tooth's nose and its' effects were made apparent instantly. This time, it was Tooth that was tugging at Jack to go to the parade. Happy with his work he let Tooth pull him to the parade only for her to stop right above it.

"Hope you still know how to dance" She said.

"Of course. Why do yo-"

Before he could finish, Tooth pulled him next to her and intertwined each of their hands. Jack immediately caught on and readied himself. They stopped flying and Jack set his staff down on one of the floats as an old memory came back to them.

The first time they danced together, at the New Year's party. Just like that time, they were looking at each other's eyes as they began to waltz. And just like that time, everything around them seemed to disappear until they were the only ones left. Ever since that day, their love had not faltered, if anything it had grown and their bong had become stronger.

Unfortunately, since they were in Brazil, which had a warmer climate than what Jack was used too, he subconsciously started to make it snow to keep himself cool. If it weren't for a stray snowflake landing on Tooth's head, she might had not noticed what Jack was doing.

After looking around, she immediately started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Jack asked.

"Look up" Tooth answered in between chuckles.

"Why is it snowing?" Jack asked.

"Because you're making it snow, dummy" She explained.

"Better stop it then, don't want the parade to be cancelled" He said.

"Thank you" She thanked.

"I didn't know you disliked my snow that much" He joked.

"Not that. For convincing me to come" She clarified.

"Of course. This wouldn't be even half as fun if you weren't here" He said.

"Got anywhere else for us to go?" She asked.

"Sure" He answered.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

* * *

Italy, Canada, Vienna, London, Hong Kong. These were only some of the places they visited. Jack would show Tooth how to have fun in ways she had never dreamed of. Amusement parks, concerts and movies were all included in Jack's schedule. He even managed to get Tooth to eat some cotton candy, which to her surprise she liked. And before she even realized, it was already night.

* * *

"Last stop France, the city of love" Jack said.

"Who knew you could be old fashioned enough to end our day out here" Tooth joked.

"I'm 300 years old" He said.

"I'm over 1000 years old" She said.

"Guess that would mean I'm into older women" He joked. "Not that I would need anyone else but you"

"You're right about that one" She joked.

"Anyway, the reason I brought you here is that" He said, pointing towards the base of the Eiffel Tower.

"What's there?" She asked.

"Fireworks" He answered. "In about 20 minutes, the sky will be filled with them"

"Really?" She asked anxiously. "I've never actually seen any before"

"Then you're in luck, these are some of the prettiest in the world" He said. "But still not as pretty as yo-"

Before he could finish, a green glow around his staff stole his attention as he quickly hid behind his staff.

"What was that glow?" Tooth asked.

"No-nothing important" Jack lied. "Could you just give me 5 minutes?"

"Jack" Tooth called before he could fly away. "I know you're lying"

"Y-you do?" He asked.

"Yes. And whatever that was, you can tell me" She said, hoping to get some answers from Jack.

"Well… It's about work" He answered.

"I thought you told you didn't have to spread snow today" She said.

"Not that work" He said lowering his head to avoid eye contact.

"Oh, you mean…"

* * *

Meanwhile Pitch was laughing to himself. Unlike Tooth, he knew exactly what the glow on Jack's staff meant from the very beginning. He had already been watching them for quite some time now and honestly… he felt pretty disgusted.

"Finally, something interesting to watch. I was getting sick of watching these two acting so… happy" Pitch said. "Of course, I should also give my part towards making this moment memorable"

"Now, what to do?" He asked aimlessly. "Well, when in wonder, always do what you do best"

"And in my case, I spread fear" He said, disappearing into the black sand.

* * *

"Oh, you mean…"

"Yes. I'm sorry it came up, but I need to go" He said. "But it's really close to here, it won't take long. I promise"

Before he could leave, Tooth said something. She didn't know why she said it, but the she did. Unfortunately, it could change her life forever.

"Then take me with you"

Jack completely stopped in his tracks.

"What? Do you have any idea of what you're asking?" He asked.

"Yes" She answered.

"Tooth, this isn't something I can show you" He said.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Well, because… Uhmm…" Jack was at complete loss for words.

"Jack, I want to know you. All of you" She assured him.

"Ok, but if you feel like you can't handle it, you need to tell me" He said.

"Thank you" She thanked, before signaling for him to take the lead.

During their travel, they were silent. Jack still was against taking Tooth with him, he was afraid of what she might think of him. But more importantly, he was still confused as to why she would want to do this. Little did Jack know that a trail of black sand followed them through the darkness of the night.


	2. Monster

Monster

Chapter 2

Jack led them to a hospital. In a lone room, a single man was asleep. It was incredibly quiet, like the man was already dead. But he wasn't, not yet at least. The heart monitor confirmed it.

He looked to be in his mid twenties, had brown hair and very pale skin.

"I wonder what happened to him." Tooth said.

"Hypothermia" Jack answered.

"How can you tell?" She asked.

"I've seen it before" He explained. "A lot"

Not wanting to spend any more time there than he had to, Jack turned his staff into a scythe and got to work. It was quite simple really. A single touch with the blade and the soul was laid to rest, stored in his scythe until Death came to collect them.

"I'm done, let's head back" Jack said, still refusing to look at her in the eyes.

Just like before, their journey was silent. But this time, Jack felt like something was wrong. A presence he hadn't noticed before, it was dark and coming from… behind him?

The only one behind him was Tooth, so who was that presence? Attempting to spot the entity, he looked over his shoulder and to his surprise there was… no one. Turning completely around, he noticed that Tooth had stopped following him. He could just make out her silhouette further behind.

"What's with the holdup Tooth?" He asked, flying towards her.

She didn't say anything, instead she just looked down at the far off ground.

"C'mon Tooth, you can tell me what's wrong" He said.

"That man…"

"Damn, I knew it was a mistake to take you" He sighed.

"No, not that" She said.

"Then what?" He asked.

"That man, he was alive. And just like that… Who could you do it?" She asked.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Take his life" Tooth screamed, startling Jack. "What gives you the right to end a life just like that?"

"Well… I…"

"They don't get a second chance like you did" She said.

"Tooth, you're acting weird" Jack informed her, trying to get a hold of her hand. "Are you alright?"

"DON'T TOUCH ME" She screamed, causing Jack to stop in his tracks. "You monster"

"M-Monster?"

Those words hit Jack like a ton of bricks. Of all the people he knew, he never expected to hear that from Tooth. Tooth began to quickly fly away, which caused Jack regain his composure and pursue Tooth to get some answers.

* * *

Even after a few minutes of flying as fast as he could, he still wasn't able to find Tooth. He felt tears welling up, signaling he was ready to start crying any second now. That is until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Thinking it was Tooth, jack hurriedly turned around only to come face to face with no other but his worst nightmare…Pitch.

"Hello Jack" Pitch greeted, causing Jack to get back and put some distance in between them.

"Pitch, what are you doing here?" Jack asked.

"What? Not even a hello or an 'I'm sorry I ruined your plans to dominate the world'" Pitch joked.

"You got exactly what you deserved" Jack said, gritting his teeth and clutching his staff with both his hands. "And now I'm going to do it again"

Jack did his best to hit Pitch with his ice, but every time he tried Pitch just disappeared into the sand and reappeared somewhere else.

"Now, now Jack. I'm here to talk, not fight" Pitch argued. Jack knew he wouldn't be able to take down Pitch by himself so he decided to play along.

"Fine, what do you want?" Jack asked.

"Oh, this isn't about what I want" Pitch explained. "It's about what you want"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked.

"What else? I'm talking about your little girlfriend" Pitch answered.

"Tooth? What did you do to her?" Jack demanded.

"I might've clouded her mind with a little fear, nothing much" Pitch joked.

"Then all I have to do is beat you and she will be okay again" Jack said.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Even if you manage to free her from the spell you still wouldn't know where she was. I've got a new hide out you see" Pitch explained.

"You're a monster" Jack said.

"Who? Me? I don't think your feathered friend would agree" Pitch said. "Wasn't that what she called you?"

"That was your doing" Jack said, struggling to believe what Tooth had told him.

"Oh, was it now? The fear was already there, I simply gave her a push" Pitch explained. "So, ask yourself this: Who is the real monster here?"

Jack fell silent. He actually was scared of what the boogeyman could tell him.

"I'll tell you who" Pitch said. "You might collect souls for a living, but do you think your other friends know I'm back?"

"W-what are y-you saying?" Jack stuttered, slowly backing away.

"Wouldn't it be a surprise for the other guardians if I dropped by for an unexpected visit?" Pitch asked. "After all…"

"…I'm the real monster they should be scared of" Pitch finished, disappearing into the black sand.

Jack just stood there awestruck. The one man he thought could never scare him actually did. He was completely paralyzed by fear. That is, until Pitch's words finally registered.

"I've got to warn the others" Jack said, immediately rocketing towards the North Pole.

Far off, above the Eiffel tower, he could see the fireworks exploding in the air. And a single thought appeared in his mind. _'I'll definitely show Tooth these fireworks, even if it is the last thing I do'_

* * *

Meanwhile at the North Pole, North and the yetis were hard at work like always. North was lecturing some elves in his office about some pranks they pulled while the yetis made toys.

North was almost finished when Phil burst into his office. He tripped on the elves and almost fell on North.

"I thought I already told you to knock" North said angrily.

Phil immediately started to spout some gibberish that only North could understand.

"WHAT?" North screamed as he finished translating Phil's words.

North headed towards the entrance of his workshop and immediately found what he was looking for.

"Jack" North called.

He was surrounded by elves and yetis so North couldn't see him directly, but the commotion was enough for him to know. As he approached him, he noticed that he was lying on the floor panting heavily from probably flying too fast.

"Jack, what's the matter?" North asked.

"Iwasgoingoutwithtoothwhenshestartedactingstrangea ndthen…"

"Jack calm down, I can't understand what you're saying" North said.

Jack took a deep breath to calm down before he tried to say something again.

"Pitch is back" Jack said, frightening everyone in the room.

"Are you sure?" North asked.

"Yes, he kidnapped Tooth" Jack explained.

"I see. We need to call the other guardians immediately" North said, heading towards the globe to call the other 2 guardians.

As soon as he reached it, he immediately pressed the button hoping that the guardians would come to help.

* * *

After about half a hour, Bunny and Sandy arrived at the Pole and Jack was able to tell them about what happened. They were both scared and pissed. Just like Jack, Tooth was like a member of their family. If it was a fight Pitch wanted, it was a fight he would get.

"So, where do we start?" Bunny asked.

Almost immediately, Sandy formed an image of Tooth and her fairies above his head.

"Sandy's right, if we find Tooth first we'll have a better chance of beating Pitch" North said.

"We should also check in on the other fairies, if they stop collecting teeth things could get worse for Tooth" Jack added.

"I'll go and explain everything to them" Bunny offered.

"I'll go get a globe and some yetis to protect them" North said, leaving the room with Sandy right behind him.

"Don't worry mate, we'll find her" Bunny comforted, giving Jack a pat on the back before leaving after North and Sandy.

"I hope so" Jack said, looking up to the moon through the window.

* * *

On top of the Big Ben, in London, a lone elderly figure looked toward the horizon. He was none other than Father Time. He was bald, had a long white beard and wore a dark blue cloak. In his right hand he held a mahogany cane.

As if sensing danger, he walked back inside and took a seat in a chair, waiting for the one he had sensed to reveal himself. Black sand seeped into the building and joined a few feet in front of him. And out of it emerged Pitch once more.

"Ah... Father Time. It's so good to see you again after all these years" Pitch greeted.

"Pitch, you really have returned" Father Time said. "The moon warned me of you but I did not want to believe it"

"If the moon warned you of my revival then surely he also warned you why I'm here" Pitch said.

"You wish for my scythe, am I correct?" Time asked.

"You are indeed correct, so if you were so kind to hand it to me I would be grateful" Pitch joked.

"I will be honest with you, I am too old to fight, especially against you, and I am not allowed to fight others using the scythe. But allow me to ask a few questions" Time requested.

"Very well" Pitch agreed.

"Why do all this?" Time asked. "Spreading fear throughout the world and taking my scythe for what? Petty revenge?"

"I'm tired of being ignored and the guardians stood in my way, all I want is to go back to the good old days" Pitch answered.

"And kidnapping the Tooth Fairy?"

"Ok, so maybe I want a little bit of revenge" Pitch added.

"Against Jack Frost?"

"Against all of them" Pitch shouted. "Now give me the scythe old man and my plan will be complete"

"You may think so" Time said, extending his cane, turning it into a scythe and giving it to Pitch. "But the guardians are strong and will not give up without a fight"

"Oh, but that is exactly what I'm expecting"

* * *

Meanwhile, Bunny had went to the Tooth palace and came back with news of the fairies.

"So, how are they?" Jack asked.

"They'll keep working, but they also seemed pretty mad at you" Bunny answered.

"I don't blame them, I'm pretty mad at myself too" He explained.

"Listen kid, no one could have predicted Pitch would come back this soon" He reassured. "You couldn't have known"

"No, I should have noticed as soon as Tooth started to act weird something was wrong" He argued, falling deeper into depression.

Before Bunny could argue further, North burst into the room with Sandy flying beside him.

"Glad you're back friend" North greeted.

"Save the greetings for later, right now we have a lot of work on our hands" Bunny said.

"Agreed, we need to find out where Pitch will strike first" North agreed.

After thinking for a bit, Sandy tugged on North's jacket and made a little girl out of sand above his head. She looked to be very young, had fairy wings on her back and was chasing Bunny.

"Sandy, are you saying that Pitch is going after Suzie and Jamie?" Jack asked, causing Sandy to nod as a response.

"Of course, it was because of the ankle bitters that we beat Pitch last time" Bunny remembered.

"We need to stop him" North said.

"He shouldn't be at full strength just yet so we need to beat him as quickly as we can" Jack explained.

"We take the sleigh" North said.

"Ok, let's go" Bunny agreed and started to walk away when he noticed the others looking at him like he had grown another head. "What?"

"You're going to ride the sleigh without arguing?" Jack asked.

"We don't have time to argue" Bunny explained.

"He's right, we need to make sure the children are alright" North agreed.

"Ok, I hope Pitch's ready because when I find him I'm going to make him tell me where Tooth is" Jack said as they all headed towards the sleigh.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pitch was in his new lair, listening in to the Guardians' latest talks. Father Time's cane in hand and the Tooth chained by his feet.

"Oh, we'll see about that" Pitch mocked, laughing as loud as he could, little did the guardians know of Pitch's new attained advantage.


	3. Goner

Goner

(Chapter 3)

During the sleigh ride to Burgess, there was nothing but silence. Not because they had nothing to talk about but because each of them were preparing themselves for the upcoming battle. They knew one mistake could cost them a lot, whether it was Tooth, Jamie or themselves.

When they arrived, it was already night. They quickly went to check on Jamie and Suzie before splitting up and checking on their friends. Soon enough they met up again.

"Anything?" Jack asked. As a response everybody shook their heads. "Same here"

"Maybe this isn't where he is coming first after all" Bunny suspected.

"But it doesn't make any sense, we were the ones that stopped him so he should want his revenge" Jack argued.

"Maybe, but he's not stupid enough to try and take us all down" Bunny said.

"Well now, I wouldn't call it stupidity" A loud voice echoed from around the Guardians. "I like to call it… asserting my dominance"

The voice seemed to come from every direction, surrounding them. While trying to locate the source of the noise, the Guardians didn't notice a sea of black sand form a dome around them until it was too late.

Our heroes desperately tried to escape by using everything they had, ice, boomerangs, bombs, swords and more sand. Fortunately, their efforts paid off as they were able to create a hole in the dome big enough for them to escape. Immediately after they left, the structure collapsed in on itself to reveal Pitch behind it.

"So that's where you were hiding" Jack said.

"Hiding? My boy, I was merely waiting for the right time to surprise you. Do you not like surprises?" Pitch asked jokingly.

"You keep telling yourself that" Bunny mocked.

"Oh, but it is the truth. After all, with just the four of you, you couldn't possibly think of beating me, could you?" Pitch asked.

"It's over Pitch. You're still weak from our last battle. You can't win" North said with Sand nodding next to him.

"Even like this I can beat you" Pitch said. "This time you will not stand in my way, the world will fear me once more"

"We won't let you" Jack roared, flying after Pitch with the other Guardians behind him.

Out of nowhere, a wall of black sand rose in front of Jack stopping him in his tracks while the other Guardians went around it. Immediately, Bunny sent his boomerangs against Pitch only to have him catch them. Throwing them back at him, Bunny was surprised at how much strength the Nightmare King possessed. However what surprised him most was the group of fearlings now coming after him.

At the same time, North was faced with a similar situation as another group of fearlings forced him back onto his sleigh and he took off with them hot on his trail. Noticing this, Sandy attempted to help North but was blocked off by Pitch, who quickly summoned his normal black sand scythe and attempted to cut Sandy's head off.

Knowing he would no longer be able to get to North, Sandy decided to fight Pitch. Quickly forming his whips, he attempted to grab hold of Pitch but failed as Pitch easily dodged every time. Pitch was much stronger than before but Sandy didn't know why, if he were to defeat him he would have to learn where Pitch had gotten this power from.

Regaining his composure, Jack watched every one struggling against their opponents. Not only had Pitch become stronger but his fearlings had too. Neither North nor Bunny were able to land one hit on them and were both starting to get tired. Hoping that Sandy would be able to handle Pitch, Jack set off to help the other two.

Starting with Bunny, he shot a few bolts of ice against the group of fearlings, freezing two of them and causing about half to come after them. Taking advantage of the fearlings distraction, Bunny threw two egg bombs at them, blowing up most of them so that three were left.

With only this many, Bunny had an easier time dodging and attacking them. He jumped on top of a roof and immediately threw his boomerangs destroying two of them. Unfortunately, the last one rammed him against a wall taking the air right out of him. The fearling turned back around and prepared to ram him again, but Bunny jumped on top of it, pushed one of his bombs inside and jumped up again to grab hold of North's sleigh.

"Ah, there you are Bunny" North said.

"Good to see you mate" Bunny joked. "Need a hand?"

"If you don't mind" North said.

Immediately, Bunny started to throw his boomerangs while North navigated the sleigh in between buildings. They were at a standstill. Neither Bunny nor the fearlings could land an attack on their opponents, all North could do was hope that the others were doing better than him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sandy was still trading blow for blow with Pitch.

"It's no use Sandman, you can't touch me and him just toying with you" Pitch mocked. What he said was true and Sandy knew it. The fact that Pitch could toy with him, frustrated Sandy to no end, especially since he was just barely standing his ground.

Sandy decided to change tactics. He reformed his whips into a crossbow and used his sand as projectiles. If Pitch could turn his dream sand into nightmare sand then he could do the same, right?

Arrow after arrow, Pitch made no effort to dodge has every arrow that hit him just darkened in color and was added to his own sand. Soon enough, he was standing in front of a wide eyed Sandy, who could do nothing but stare in amazement at Pitch's newfound strength.

"Guess this is the end for you" Pitch said. "It was fun while it lasted"

* * *

After reliving Bunny of some of his fearlings, Jack had realized just how true his guess had been. These fearlings were definitely stronger and faster than before and they were showing it. Even with the help of the wind, the fearlings were still chasing him to close for comfort.

Having had enough, Jack flew straight through a closed window, shattering it. This forced the fearlings to chase Jack through the same window and, unfortunately for them, Jack was expecting that and was able to freeze most of the fearlings in place.

But as persistent as they were, they kept on coming to attack Jack. Eventually, they managed to surround Jack, who was forced to dodge fearling after fearling while attacking them once in a while. After a while, Jack was left breathless and surrounded by patches of now unmoving sand.

He had been able to destroy all of the fearlings and was limping towards the window he had broken earlier. One of the fearlings had landed a solid hit on him while his back was turned and ended up injuring his leg. Looking outside, he spotted his comrades still fighting.

His eyes landed on Sandy, who was shooting Pitch with a crossbow while he just ignored the arrows. He could just barely make out the terrified look on Sandy's face and immediately asked the wind to take him there.

* * *

"It was fun while it lasted"

Pitch made a dagger of black sand and held it in his hand, above his hand. He plunged the dagger down only to slash at air. Confused, Pitch looked around and didn't see any sight of Sandy. That is, before he felt something wrap around his waist and pull him up into the air and then down against the floor.

He collided with the floor face first and got up as soon as he could. Turning around, he was faced with the grins of Sandy and Jack.

"What's the matter Pitch?" Jack asked. "I thought you said you were powerful enough to beat us all"

"Oh, I am" He reassured. "And I think your friends will agree with me"

Fearing for their friends, Jack and Sandy immediately started to look for them frantically until Sandy spotted them far off in the horizon and tugged on Jack's sleeve to warn him.

"Let's go Sandy, we can take care of Pitch later" Jack said.

With a nod, Sandy did as Jack suggested and left with him to aid North and Bunny, but not before using his sand to tie Pitch up. Once Sandy thought Pitch's restraints were tight enough, he and Jack set off leaving a strangely happy Pitch alone.

"So naive" Pitch chuckled darkly, easily breaking the sand ropes restraining him. "I'm going to make you regret underestimating me"

* * *

Once they got close enough, seeing the grave situation their comrades were in only served to urge them on even more. Due to the overwhelming number of fearlings chasing them, North had been forced to land the sleigh on a roof abruptly and ended up slightly damaging the sleigh. Now they were being forced to fight against the dozens of fearlings that were surrounding them.

Bunny was throwing and re-throwing his boomerangs as fast as he could while North slashed at any enemy that got too close to either of them. Bunny was out of his explosive eggs while North had multiple cuts and bruises all over his body. Bunny was about to be caught from behind by one of the fearlings just as Jack and Sandy arrived and immediately destroyed the fearling.

"Took you long enough to get here" Bunny said.

"Yeah, thought you guys mind need some help" Jack joked.

"And Pitch?" North asked, stabbing a fearling through the chest.

"We left him back there" Jack answered.

"YOU WHAT?" Bunny yelled, kicking a fearling that had gotten too close in the face. "You should ha-"

"You guys come first" Jack interrupted. "I wasn't just going to leave you here to deal with this many fearlings"

Bunny still thought he was right, but a look at jack's face made him immediately shut up. Bunny saw nothing but worry in his eyes. Tooth's kidnapping had taken its toll on all of, but it affected jack the most. Bunny knew that to Jack the guardians were like family and the fact that he already lost one of them made him want to protect the others at any cost.

Bunny let go of the subject and instead focused on fighting. And finally, after cutting, whipping or freezing all of the fearlings, they could take a moment to catch their breaths.

"That's something I don't ever want to do again" Bunny said in between gasps for breath.

"C'mon tell the truth, you had fun" Jack joked.

"I'll have fun when we get Pitch" Bunny explained.

"Then we should go before he escapes" North suggested.

"Right, we can't afford to lose any more time here" Bunny agreed, gesturing towards the sleigh and once again getting weird looks from the other Guardians. "C'mon, Tooth is waiting for us"

Immediately, Jack darted toward the sleigh, where he impatiently waited for the others to join.

As soon as they got back, they were surprised when they saw…Pitch, sitting there looking as bored as one could get. He immediately straightened up at the sight of the guardians as if he were expecting him.

"What's the matter Pitch? Aren't you going to try and escape?" Bunny asked.

"Well, I was going to, but then I thought about how easy it would be to just get rid of you all right now so I waited" He said.

"Forget it Pitch. No matter how much stronger you got, you can't beat us all" Jack said.

"But how can you be so sure?" Pitch asked as the sand around him blackened and fell to the floor. "After all, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve"

"Don't do anything stupid Pitch. Just tell us were Tooth is and I promise you won't be punished too severely" North said, as all the guardians jumped off the sleigh while still maintain a good distance from Pitch.

"Oh, I know. After all, as soon as I'm finished with you there won't be anybody left to stop me" He said as he started emanating a faint green color from his body.

_'No… It can't be…' _Jack thought.

In an all too familiar situation to the guardians, Jack especially, a bright green light blinded the four Guardians. As the light started to fade and the Guardians' vision started slowly returned, they were all stunned at the familiar instrument in Pitch's hand.

"Whe-Where d-did you g-get that?" Jack asked truly showing fear for the first time.

"Do you like it? I got from that old coot, Father Time" He answered. "Now I truly understand why people fear death, just the scythe alone is an extremely impressive weapon"

"Pitch, the scythes were not meant to be used to fight other spirits, they are t-"

"Yes, yes ,yes. They were meant to collect the souls of those whose time has come" Pitch interrupted as he got into a battle stance. "And in my opinion, you four fit that description perfectly"

"So you got a new toy, you're still no match for us" Bunny said. "Now tell us where Tooth is"

"Actually, I'd much rather just kill you already" Pitch smirked, causing Bunny to go over the edge and run towards Pitch. North and Sandy were about to go join him when Jack interrupted them.

"NO, STOP" Jack screamed, causing the three of them to stop in their tracks.

"What? Why?" Bunny asked confused. "It's just Pitch, we can ta-"

"No we can't" Jack interrupted. "North prepare the sleigh we're leaving"

North was about to question Jack, but as if he was reading his mind Jack was quick to speak. "NOW" He ordered with a look that made North immediately dart towards the sleigh. "YOU TOO BUNNY"

"NO" Bunny spat. "I don't know what's wrong with you but I'm going to finish this right now"

Bunny resumed his run towards Pitch at top speed and was only a few feet away from him when out of the ground a thick wall of ice grew up right in between the two. At the speed he was going, Bunny was unable to stop in time and crashed against the ice, knocking him out.

Jack quickly flew to him and took a quick glance at Pitch who was smirking on the other side of the ice. Jack scooped Bunny up and carried him over to the sleigh.

* * *

When Bunny woke up, they were still flying away from Pitch and it was only when he looked at Jack that finally stood up.

"What did you do that for?" Bunny asked. "We had him"

"No we didn't" Jack argued.

"Just because he has a new scythe, doesn't mean anything. He had a scythe before too and w-"

"That scythe is different" Jack interrupted. "They're called 'Death Scythes' for a reason"

"And that reason is?" North asked also curious.

"If that scythe so much as touches you, you're a goner" Jack answered.

"What do you mean goner?" Bunny asked. "We're immortal rem-"

"The scythes are magical, all he has to do is touch you with it and it'll take away your soul… PERMANENTLY" Jack explained. "You can't come back from that"

"Oh" Was all Bunny could say.


	4. In Desperate Times

In Desperate Times

(Chapter 4)

After a few minutes of flying in silence, the Guardians finally reached North's workshop and decided to sit down so that they could talk to Jack about the scythes.

"Okay, let me see if I got this right" Bunny started. "What you're saying is that somehow Pitch got his hands on a weapon that can permanently kill any of us simply by touching us with it?"

"Correct" Jack answered.

"Like we didn't have enough to worry about" Bunny said, sarcastically.

"Jack, is there a way to deal with scythe without getting anyone in danger?" North asked.

"The three scythes create a balance between the world of the dead and of the living, so we can't ask MIM to get rid of it" Jack explained, further depressing the three other Guardians.

"Can't we break it and then put it back together like you did with your staff?" Bunny asked.

"A scythe can only be broken by another of the scythes so it is possible" Jack answered before quickly adding. "However… Death can't attack anyone who as one of the scythes and even if she could I doubt she would help and now that Pitch has a scythe his powers have also increased so I don't think I can take him alone"

"Who said anything about going alone? We're not going to let have all the fun" Bunny said and the other two Guardians nodded, managing to draw a small smile from Jack, which quickly faded.

"Even if we managed to somehow overpower him, there's still another problem" Jack said, once again depressing his friends. "The scythes are used to collect souls, so if we break the scythe the souls will be released"

"And?" Bunny asked.

"No one really wants to die, so the souls would be tempted to return to their human bodies, but since they had already died their bodies can no longer work" Jack explained. "Therefore they would be tempted to search for bodies that still function, and once they found them they would possess the body and expel the rightful owners' souls"

"That's bad, right?" Bunny asked.

"Right, then those souls would possess other bodies, expel other souls and so on" Jack finished.

"So that's out of the question, anymore ideas?" North asked.

"Isn't there anyone that can help us? Like another spirit or something?" Jack asked. "There must be a lot of them that dislike Pitch just as much as we do"

"It's worth a shot mate" Bunny agreed, waiting for an answer from North.

"It's the only plan we've got" North agreed.

"Okay, you guys get to it and I'll go ask MIM about Death" Jack said.

"Wait, I thought you said she wouldn't help us" Bunny reminded.

"Still, if I can convince her she might be our greatest advantage against Pitch" Jack argued. "And who knows? She might surprise us"

* * *

After nearly ten minutes of Bunny constantly pleading North not to send him to meet the Groundhog, Jack was finally able to get MIM to make an appointment with Death. The thing is… Death doesn't really know that she's going to meet Jack. Instead she thinks she's just going to collect another soul since she gets her orders directly from MIM.

MIM told her to come to the lake in Burgess that Jack called home. He could already guess how mad she would get and it really wasn't a pretty sight since she was always on a tight schedule.

After flying for a while, Jack can finally see the lake they are going to meet at and as usual Death was already there, she always hated being late. And like most of the time she was completely covered by her cloak.

"Jack, surprised to see you here" Death said.

"I need to talk to you" Jack said.

"I thought MIM was hiding something from me" She said. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I need your help to beat Pitch" Jack answered.

"Jack, Jack, Jack… You know I can't raise my hand against however has a scythe like mine" She argued, leaning against a nearby tree.

"I know, but can't you at least take the souls from him so that we can break it?" Jack asked.

"First of all, you do know the ritual should only be performed once a year, right?" Death asked.

"Yes. But listen, MIM let come here and meet you. I don't think he cares too much about rules right now" He said.

"Second, I don't really care about what happens" She said, bluntly.

"How can you not care?" Jack snapped, walking up to her. "The whole world is in danger maybe even MIM himself and you don't care?"

"That's right" She said.

"Listen, I know there's not many people you like, but…"

"You're right, I don't like anybody. Not children, not adults, not spirits and especially not MIM" She agreed.

"MIM gave us a second chance at life, you should be thankful" Jack argued.

"Thankful? For what? For turning me into this?" She asked, pointing to herself. "I hate this. Do you think I like being Death? I don't and so doesn't everybody else"

"You do know that I'm like you, don-"

"You're nothing like me. Nobody will ever understand what it's like to be me. Completely alone, with no friends or family" She said.

"Death, I…"

"You should consider yourself lucky Jack. You got the benefit of the doubt for already stopping Pitch once" She noted. "But no one will ever take a second look at me and no matter how much time passes by, it'll always be that way"

"Well, you must have met someone that wasn't like that at one point, right?" He asked.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything from before I became Death" She admitted.

"You don't? Why?" He asked.

"Because… If in my past life I really did have someone like that, I would be even lonelier" She explained, her voice getting lower with each word. "Most of the times when I have to collect someone's soul, it's near their loved ones. So I would always being reminded of my loneliness"

At that moment, Jack could no longer look at Death. He had no right to do so. What he had gone through was nothing compared to Death's pain, at least they had ignored him because he constantly pulled pranks. But they hated her just because of being something she didn't even want to be.

Gathering all the courage he had, he took a look at Death. He couldn't see her face but he knew she was sad. Before he would have agreed with all the bad things anyone would call her, he had more than enough reasons just from a few months ago. But now he saw the truth. Even if she didn't let on, inside she was miserable.

"I-I'm sor-"

Before Jack could finish, Death grabbed him by the arms and switched places with him, pushing him against the tree. Jack looked at her and was surprised that despite of how close they were to one another, he still couldn't see her face.

'_Probably a magic cloak' _Jack thought, before shaking his head and returning to the matters at hand.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked.

"You really are slow aren't you?" She asked before fiercely planting her lips against Jack's.

* * *

Meanwhile in Pitch's new lair, a very familiar rainbow winged fairy was waking up from a deep slumber. Not recognizing her location, Tooth looked around trying to jog her memory to get up to speed on what happened before falling asleep.

_'Let's see…I was working, then Jack came to pick me for our date, we across the world, we arrived at France and then… then Jack's staff started to glow' _she thought. She tried to force herself to remember. Unfortunately, her memory from that point onwards was completely blank.

Giving up, she looked back at the last memory to get some answers, however a more important question came to her. "Jack?" She asked, looking around. It was now that Tooth actually paid attention to her surroundings.

The place was dark. That seemed to be the perfect word to describe it, no matter how much Tooth tried she could not find any way that sun light could penetrate the catacombs she seemed to be in. She tried to fly to take a look around, but was stopped by something tugging at her ankle. She turned around only to be completely overwhelmed by fear.

For some reason her ankle was chained up to a throne like structure next to her. Both the chain and the throne seemed to colored black but Tooth wasn't paying attention to details right now, due to the wave of panic that was washing over her.

"J-Jack? W-where are you?" She asked, fear obvious in her words. "This isn't funny anymore"

She was panicking even more now that she hadn't gotten an answer. She started to pull on the chain and trying to slip her foot through it to free herself. Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough. Once more, she searched her memory for answers- no, for anything that could help her escape and to go back to Jack. She found nothing.

Instead, she tried calming down. She needed it to try and make sense out of the situation. Her mind drifted back to her memories of Jack, pleasant memories. Slowly, she felt her heart slow down as images of the two of them embracing and kissing.

Her focus was quickly shattered due to a low laughter that seemed to emanate from every possible direction around Tooth. Although it was almost inaudible, the hate and venom that were carried in the laughter easily reached her. And it felt downright creepy.

"S-show yourself" Tooth demanded, trying to sound as threatening as she could but still sounding incredibly scared.

"Now, now… there's no need to be rude, I did bring you to my home after all" The voice said, clearly belonging to a male by the sound of it.

"W-where am I? And where's Jack?" She asked.

"Jack's quite busy right now" The man said, chuckling. "As for where you are…I already told you, you're in my home"

"Please, I just want to go home" She pleaded, crying.

"I'm afraid that's quite impossible" The man refused as black sand started to gather on the floor in front of Tooth. "After all…you are very part important of my plan"

Tooth started to slowly back away from the figure that emerged right in front of her, but due to the fear that was causing her legs to shake uncontrollably she ended stumbling backwards and falling on the floor. She tried to form words in her mouth, but once again she was struck by fear making only choking noises to come out.

This reaction was more than apt for a situation such as this. After all, the man that now stood in front of Tooth was the same that caused her and the other Guardians a lot of pain and now kidnapped her on a place she didn't know where and possibly had Jack held in some other place.

"What's the matter Toothiana? You look like you've seen a ghost" Pitch joked.

Swallowing the lump in her throat and gathering all her courage she managed to overcome her inability to talk. "W-what a-are you going to d-do?" She asked.

"Oh, you know. Getting revenge on the Guardians and resuming my previous plan to spread fear all over the world" Pitch answered in a mocking tone.

"What did you do to Jack?" She asked, fear once more washing over her as she thought of what Pitch could have done to him.

"Nothing much, but the real question here is: what did **you **do to him?" Pitch asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You don't remember? In that case allow me to show you" Pitch said, smiling sadistically. With a snap of his fingers black sand formed a screen in front of Tooth. For the next few minutes Tooth sat in silence as Pitch showed her going with Jack to collect a man's soul up to her calling Jack a monster and running away.

"There's no way that happened" She protested.

"Oh, it happened alright, that was how you really felt" He half lied.

"No, I love Jack. I would never call him a monster" She argued.

"You would and you did. In fact, I fought with him and the guardians earlier and he didn't even ask about even though he knew I had you" He lied.

Hearing this, Tooth fell silent. She wanted to believe that Pitch wasn't telling the truth, but if she really did call him a monster then it obvious that jack would hate her now. She still remembered what happened during North's New Year's Party.

She started crying. She was the one who really felt like a monster. Jack didn't deserve what she said to him. The most she could hope for now was for him to forgive, but even she couldn't believe that. She stopped arguing with Pitch. She was scared he would tell more things that would make her feel worse.

Pitch smiled. He had broken the Guardian of Memories and even made her afraid of him. Pitch smiled even more. He had also managed to scare the Guardians away from their battle, had a new lair that they couldn't find and was spreading fear throughout the world faster than last time due to scythe increasing his strength.

There were no loose ends in his plan and all he had to do now was defeat the Guardians. And he would make sure to do it as slow and sadistically as possible.


	5. Reasons Revealed

Reasons Revealed

(Chapter 5)

While Death kept Jack in place, he tried to get out of her grasp. Surprisingly, this was more difficult than he had thought since Death somehow held an incredibly strong grip. He kept trying to jerk his arms from her hands, but only managed to knock her hood back, finally showing her face. There he saw the only thing he never expected to see from her.

Tears…

_'Death is crying? The Death?' _He asked himself, mostly because his lips were still pressed against Death's. He stopped struggling. His mind was racing to try and comprehend the cause of Death's tears. This did not bother Death as she just kept kissing him.

Eventually, Death broke the kiss leaving both of them gasping for air. They stood quietly in front of each other staring into the other's eyes. There was no regret in Death's eyes- in fact there was happiness and even relief, despite of the tears running down her cheeks. However, Jack's eyes only showed confusion. He was confused about her reasons for kissing him and for crying.

"Why?" Was all Jack could say.

Death quickly looked down to try and hide her blush. It was as if she was a completely different person. Different from the usual cold and distant Death Jack knew so well.

"B-because… I…I…" She stuttered before taking a deep breath to calm down. "Because… I've always had feelings for you ever since we met"

"Wha-what?" He asked, sliding down the tree until he was sitting down.

"It's true. Ever since you became... No, even before you became the spirit I was in love with you" She explained.

"You knew me before I 'died'?" He asked.

"Well, not really" She answered. "But I did see you multiple times"

"When?" He asked.

"You were alive during colonial times so a lot of people died either of disease or the harsh environments, you're village was no different" She explained. "Therefore I saw you multiple times"

"So why did you fall in love with me? I was a human and you were still Death at the time" He asked.

"Because you didn't fear death" She explained. "The first time I saw you, you were hanging upside down on a tree branch and could have easily slipped and fall down. You could have gotten killed. But you still did it, just so you could cheer up your sister"

"I thought that someone you wouldn't mind being friends with me, so every time I was close to that village I always ended up going to see you and eventually I realized I was in love with you" She finished, lifting her gaze to look at him and showing Jack her smile- a smile that didn't carry the usual devious intentions of the entity that was Death but instead a smile filled with happiness and love. However it didn't last long. "But there was a problem"

"I couldn't see you" Jack said, drawing a nod from Death.

"Yes. Humans can only see me on their deathbed" She explained. "But one day, MIM told me that he was creating a new spirit to help me carry out my job and that I had to go to a lake near your village. When I got there I saw what happened to you and that just made my feelings for you even stronger"

"At first I felt happy that at least you would be able to see me, but part of me thought I was a horrible person for thinking like that. Do you still remember what happened when we first met?" She asked.

* * *

**Flashback:**

_ Jack was sitting under a tree with his knees pressed against his chest and his arms around legs. He was staring off into the horizon and appeared to be deep in thought._

_ Just a hour ago, Jack had gotten out of the lake and found his new powers over ice. Afterwards he had flown to a nearby village where he had hoped to find out his location, however when he tried to touch someone he would just go right through them. Not only that but no one could neither see nor hear him. Being completely invisible to others was scaring Jack to no end, so he ran away from the village back to lake he was previously at._

_ He tried to remember anything that would explain the situation to him, nothing. Next he tried to remember anything about himself, also nothing. And finally he tried to remember anything- anything at all. His mind was completely blank._

_ He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice the young brunette in a black cloak approaching him. She had seen everything that he had done since he got out of the lake. She wanted nothing more than to hug Jack and tell him everything would be alright. But MIM had explicitly told her that telling Jack of his jobs was top priority._

_ Jack only noticed her when she finally reached him and sat down on the floor beside him._

_"Hi" She greeted._

_"You can see me?" He asked, nervously. He didn't want to get his hopes up. The girl could have been talking to her imaginary friend for all he knew._

_"Of course, you are just like me after all" She answered._

_"W-what?" He asked._

_"A spirit" She answered. "You are Jack Frost, the spirit of winter"_

_"And you?" He asked._

_"I'm Death" She answered. At this, Jack seemed to become even more nervous and instinctively backed away._

_"Are you here to kill me?" He asked._

_"No, don't worry. Although you already are dead" She answered. "I'm actually here to tell you what your job is"_

_"I'm already dead? Well, at least that explains why no one can see me" He said._

_"Kind of, since you are new it will take some time so that normal humans can see you. When people believe you then they can see you" She explained._

_"There are others?" He asked._

_"Yeah, like the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy" She answered. "Anyway, like I said you're the spirit of winter, your job is to bring winter everywhere in the world"_

_ After a few seconds, Jack gave death a small nod signaling for her to continue. "But besides that you're also one of my two helpers, the other one being the spirit who watches over the flow of time- Father Time. The world's population keeps increasing and I'm having trouble with collecting all the souls" She explained._

_"And you want me to help you" He finished._

_"Not me. Our boss, the Man in the Moon" She corrected._

_"Why me?" He asked._

_"I don't know, he just told me to come here and tell all this" She explained. "Oh, and by the way your staff turns into a scythe"_

_"It does?" He asked, looking at his scythe._

_"Yeah, I'll teach you how to do it later. But for now I'll tell exactly what you have to do" She said. "All you have to do to get the souls is touch the body of the person with the blade of the scythe and the souls will be stored inside it then all you have to do is give me the souls on the 31__st__ of December at midnight"_

_"How do I do that?" He asked._

_"All you have to do is tou-" She suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence and stared down. Suddenly she starts to blush right before she continued to speak. "All w-we have to do is ki-kiss"_

_"R-Really?" He asked, eliciting a nod from Death._

_"Y-You'll get us-used to it" She reassured._

_"How is it like?" He asked, confusing Death._

_"Kissing?" She asked._

_"N-No, being Death I mean. Does it get any easier?" He asked._

_"Eventually, I'd rather not think about it" She said._

**End Flashback:**

"… after that I started to think you didn't care about the people you had to take the souls from, so I started to hate for that" He finished. "I'm sorry"

* * *

"Don't be" She said. "The truth is that I really tried to ignore the pain that I caused to the loved ones of the people I've reaped, after thousands of years alone giving people nothing but loneliness and pain from the loss of family members and friends it was too much for me to handle. I was in already so much pain from being all alone that I didn't want to feel even worse because of what I do"

"Death, I…"

"But I couldn't do it. I couldn't ignore the tears of people who cried for the deceased" She admitted before pointing to her heart. "It always hurt here. I took people from their families and left people without their beloved. I ended up giving them the same loneliness I have to live with and I almost caused the same to happen to you"

Jack couldn't take it anymore. He dropped his staff, got up and hugged Death. He couldn't hate for what she had done to him at North's party or for any of the pain he got from reaping others souls. Right now, he could only hate himself for the way he thought of her up until now.

The way Jack was embracing her was new to Death, the warmth she was feeling deep inside her was different to anything he had ever felt in her immortal life. The times she had made him kiss her faltered in comparison to the way a simple hug made her feel. But then again, this wasn't a simple hug. This time she hadn't forced Jack to do anything. He did it on his own. And it was because of this that she couldn't hold back anymore.

The millenniums of sadness she had faced alone. All the times she felt bad for taking someone away from their loved ones. Everything was leaving her body through her eyes.

She was crying again.

But this time she didn't do it from sadness. All her suffering was leaving her body and being replaced by Jack's warmth. For the first time in many, _many _years… she was happy.

She didn't know for how long Jack embraced her. And honestly she didn't care. Right now, she needed to cry and Jack knew it. He would let her cry out all the grief she had hold in throughout her second life, no matter how long it took.

After what seemed like hours to both, Death pushed herself away from jack and brushed the remaining tears off her face. She looked up to Jack and saw worry in his eyes.

"Thank you, I'm alright now" She said.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah" She answered. "I'm sorry about the kiss"

"Don't worry about it" He reassured.

"But I do worry about it, I know how much you like Tooth" She said. "In order to evade the pain I endured from my job I ended up creating some sort of new persona that only cared about herself"

"What about the ritual?" He asked.

"I lied about that. I only need to touch any part of your body and it'll work" She explained. "I'm sorry for tricking you"

"It's ok" Jack said.

"Anyway, like I said I can't help you" She said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes. Both sides need to be willing to perform the ritual in order for it to work and I shouldn't get too close to Pitch, if he took my soul all the scythes would disappear and the world would be stuck in a state of limbo where Death doesn't exist" She explained.

"I see. Well, thanks anyway" He thanked.

"But, I can still help" She said.

"How?" He asked.

"Let me borrow your staff" She pleaded. Jack did as she asked him and gave her his staff. As soon as it was in her hands, she closed her eyes and the staff started to glow blue. Soon the glow died out and Death opened her eyes. "There"

"What did you do?" jack asked, retrieving the staff.

"I made it so it would glow when you get close enough to the other scythe when it's also in scythe form" She explained.

"But we still don't know where Pitch is exactly, by the time we find him it maybe already too late" He said.

"Actually, just before I came here I saw a lot of fearlings in Transylvania. You might want to start there" She suggested.

"A being that sticks to the night and hides in Transylvania. Isn't that kind of clichéd?" He joked.

"A little" she laughed.

"Thank you" He thanked. Just as he was about to leave he stopped and turned to Death to hug her once more.

"W-what a-are you do-doing?"She stuttered.

"You said that you needed to touch me to perform the ritual, right? If I kiss you, Tooth will might get jealous, so how about this?" He asked.

"I like it" She said, hugging him back. After a while they backed away from each other and for the first time ever Jack saw her smiling.

"Hey, before I leave. What's your name? I mean, your real name" Jack asked.

"Real name?" She asked confused.

"Yeah, before you became Death, you should at least remember that" He said. "So? What is it?"

Death was quiet for a few moments, giving a look at Jack that seemed to say he was crazy before she started to giggle.

"It's stuff like this that I fell in love with you" She said, causing Jack to blush. "Clara"

"Huh?"

"My name is Clara" She repeated.

"In that case, thanks for your help Clara" He said.

"I'm going to talk to MIM. If I find something to help you, I'll tell you" She said.

"Okay" He said. "Oh, and Clara?"

"Yeah?" She asked.

"After we win, North is probably going to throw a party" He said.

"And?"

"I'll be waiting for you" He said. And just like that, he flew away as fast as he could back to the North Pole, leaving Clara speechless.

"Damn it. And here I thought I would get over him in no time" She said.


	6. Splitting Up

Splitting Up

(Chapter 6)

Jack was travelling back to the pole as quickly as they wind could take him. He had possibly found out the location of Pitch's new hideout which was where he would probably find Tooth as well.

But right now he was worried. Pitch still had Father Time's scythe and he certainly seemed to know how to use it. Because of this, he was worried that not many spirits would be willing to help him and the Guardians fight against Pitch. Therefore, they would have to come up with a plan to both save Tooth and beat Pitch without any casualties.

'One thing at a time' He kept telling himself. First he had to tell what he learned to the others and try to form a plan together. This unfortunately wouldn't be easy considering what they were up against.

* * *

He entered North's workshop through the first window he saw and immediately set off to look for his friends. Has he suspected they were in the room with the giant globe, staring at it as some of the lights flickered.

"I'm back" Jack announced, causing everybody to look at him.

"Jack" North called. "Welcome back. You bring good news?"

"Kind of, Clara told she would talk to MIM an-"

"Wait a second. Who is Clara?" Bunny asked.

"Oh sorry, that's Death's real name. Turns out she wasn't as evil as I thought just… misunderstood" He explained.

"If you say so" Bunny said.

"Anyway… She said she'd ask MIM about anything that could help us. Also, she gave me a clue for where Pitch could be" Jack said. "What about you? Did you get somebody to help us?"

The Guardians looked at each other and lowered their heads. Sandy also used his sand to make a bunch of figures slowly backing away from Pitch above his head.

"They're scared. Who can blame them?" Jack asked. "I guess it's just us then"

"Any ideas?" Bunny asked.

"It's too dangerous to get close to Pitch so we're better off attacking him from faraway" North said. "Unfortunately, this means I won't be of much use"

"Don't worry North. You might not be able to attack him, but that doesn't mean you're useless" Jack comforted. "One of us needs to make sure Toots's okay"

"Very well, I'll look for Tooth while you try to defeat him" North agreed. "Where did Death say Pitch was?"

"According to her, she saw a lot of fearlings in Transylvania, my scythe should help us find him" Jack explained.

"Transylvania? Isn't that kind of clichéd?" Bunny asked.

"You know, I asked the same thing" Jack said.

"We should head out as soon as possible, the lights have started to flicker and we don't know how much longer it'll be until they finally go out" Bunny said.

"Alright, everybody to the sleigh" North ordered. "This time we'll beat him"

The other three nodded and then all of them ran or flew as fast as they could to the sleigh. As the sleigh took off, Jack couldn't help but think of Tooth. Was she hurt? Did Pitch torture her? Did she kill him? Jack shook his head to try and make that last question disappear. He couldn't lose hope, part of him was telling him that Tooth was still alive and he wanted to believe that.

* * *

The sun had already set After they crossed the border to Romania, it didn't take long to reach Transylvania. As soon as they did, Jack's staff started to glow blue and turned into his scythe. North landed the sleigh and Jack got off it. He turned the point of the blade in every direction until he found one that made the blade glow. He signaled for North to follow him with the sleigh as he took off.

They kept going in the same direction until Jack's scythe shone so brightly he had to look away from it. After a few seconds, the light died down and the Guardians started looking around for Pitch's hideout.

"Are you sure it's here Jack?" Bunny asked.

"Yes, we just need to look" Jack answered. "But there's something that has been bothering me"

"What?" North asked.

"There aren't any fearlings here" Jack said, making the others tense up.

"You're right" North agreed.

"Do you think he's expecting us?" Bunny asked.

"If his hideout really is here, then I wouldn't be surprised if there were fearlings everywhere" Jack said.

"They're really hard to spot during the night so if they really are here then they're probably watching us" North guessed. "Probably waiting for Pitch's orders"

"Either way, if he didn't want us getting in his hideout he would have ordered them to attack us" Jack said. "He thinks it'll be easy to take us down"

"He's mocking us" Bunny growled.

"Don't let it get to you, your first priority is to find the entrance and to stall Pitch until North rescues Tooth" Jack reminded Bunny.

"Fine" Bunny agreed.

At that moment, Sandy, who was the only one still looking for the entrance instead of paying attention to his comrades' argument, spotted a hole that seemed to lead only to darkness. He immediately flew to Jack and tugged on his sleeve, drawing his attention.

"What is it Sandy? Did you find it?" Jack asked. Sandy smiled and nodded furiously before flying back to where he found the hole.

They all looked down the hole and then at each other before they started to slowly make their way down, Jack settled for carrying bunny to the bottom while Sandy made a platform for both himself and North. For a while, all they saw was darkness. The darkness seemed to try and choke them as if it was an actual physical being. Like a snake, it slowly wrapped itself around them and constricted them until they could take no more.

And before they knew it they had arrived. When they stepped on the floor, they all looked around the room for any enemies. They didn't see anyone else and allowed themselves to relax a bit. They appeared to be in some sort of catacombs, the room they were standing alone was bigger than any room in North's workshop and had entrances to several tunnels all around the room. This unfortunately guaranteed that they would have a hard time finding Tooth.

"What was that all about?" Jack asked, breaking the silence.

"Probably one of Pitch's dirty tricks" Bunny said.

"Bunny's right so don't let it get to you" North agreed.

"Anyway, we should get going, we shouldn't stay in the same place for too long" Jack said.

"Right, you look for Pitch and I'll rescue Tooth" North agreed before grabbing two snow globes from inside his jacket and throwing at his sides. The snow globes turned into portals and out came 10 yetis from each one. "Split up in groups of two and search for Tooth, if you find Pitch don't fight him alone. If you happen to find Tooth, immediately take her back to the Pole"

The yetis said something in their language to show they understood and did exactly as North told them. After each of the groups of yetis picked one of the tunnels and left, North turned to the other Guardians and spoke. "Good luck"

"Thank you" Bunny thanked.

"We're going to need it" Jack added, causing Sandy to nod.

There were only two tunnels left, each leading to the opposite direction of the other. North drew his swords from their sheaths and set towards one of the tunnels set on finding Tooth while jack Bunny and Sandy went into the other one wanting to find Pitch before North or the yetis did.

* * *

Things were relatively quiet and calm with the 3 Guardians. They were all focused on taking down Pitch. However Bunny and Sandy were worried about Jack, they knew he loved Tooth and they knew that he wanted nothing more than to go look for her. But Jack also knew that Pitch was a threat and had to be stopped no matter what and that was what he would do.

Sandy patted Bunny's leg to gain his attention and when he looked, Sandy shook his head in Jack's direction. Bunny nodded in understanding and picked up his pace until he was close enough to Jack to place his hand on his shoulder. Jack immediately stopped and looked back at his teammates and was about to ask something but Bunny was faster than him.

"Don't worry about Tooth, North will find her" Bunny reassured while Sandy nodded.

Jack immediately relaxed and sighed. He knew Bunny was right but he couldn't help but worry about her.

"I know, thanks you two" Jack thanked. "But we need to focus on the job at hand first"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bunny asked before the returned to their search for Pitch.

* * *

Meanwhile in the complete opposite direction Jack's group was heading, North was dashing through his tunnel. He had already encountered 3 crossroads, which he had ignored and just kept running forward, and found a multitude of empty rooms along with some which were filled with, fortunately, empty coffins.

Those coffins made him fear for the worse. He hoped Pitch hadn't had the need to use one of those yet, but it was still possible. He didn't even want to think how the others would react to news like those, especially Jack. Images of the winter spirit falling to the ground and crying his eyes out in despair filled his eyes, strengthening his resolution to find Tooth and prevent a situation like that.

"TOOTH" North screamed, making his booming voice echo throughout the different passages in the tunnel. Hearing nothing, he kept running forward only to call out to her again.

He repeated this until he reached another crossroad. This time North decided to inspect all directions instead of ignoring his surroundings.

In front of him was a long hallway completely empty and with no rooms, to his right was another hallway this time with a few rooms possibly empty or filled with more coffins. It was what he saw to his left that caught his attention. It was another long and empty hallway with 2 fearlings in it.

Quickly hiding around the corner, North found strange the odd placement of the fearlings. If Pitch did know they were coming why would he have his minions randomly positioned in his hideout? Normally you'd think of spreading them through the castle and have them ambush the Guardians.

That is… unless their protecting something.

North's eyes widened. Of course Pitch wouldn't leave Tooth unsupervised. She wouldn't just stay there doing nothing while Pitch tried to kill her friends. She would obviously try to escape.

If North was right then all he had to do was follow the paths that had fearlings in them and eventually find Tooth. He just needed to be careful not to cause a ruckus and alerting anymore of Pitch's fearlings.

All in all it meant he had to be stealthy, which for someone of his… physique… was not easy. But for Tooth he would risk it. As the leader of the Guardians and the protector of Christmas and wonder in every child, he often saw his other teammates as his children, meaning he would always do everything in his power to save them.

As soon as the fearlings turned around, he made his move. As fast as he could, he darted towards them, hoping to catch them off guard. Surprisingly, they didn't notice the jolly Guardian and was able to cut both their heads without them making a noise.

He kept running along that path until he had to turn left. Just before that he stopped and took a look around the corner. This time he saw 3 fearlings, one of them was looking in his direction while the other 2 were looking the other way. The one looking in his direction seemed like he wasn't going to look away so it was up to North to take them out before they made too much noise after seeing him.

He turned around the corner and rushed towards the group. The one that was looking in North's direction immediately spotted him and snorted loudly to alert the other two. Luckily for North, he was able to kill the fearling that spotted him before the other 2 had completely turned around.

Seeing their comrade turn into unmoving black sand only angered them more than they already were. They attempted to ram into North, however North was prepared for this and stabbed one of the fearlings that was coming at him. This however left him open for the other one to crash into him and send him flying against a wall.

Trying his best not to yell in agony in fear of attracting more of Pitch's underlings North slowly and silently rose to his feet. He looked back at the wall he crashed into. He saw that it was slightly cracked and that bits of it had fallen off. Thinking quickly North grabbed one of the pieces of the wall and threw it at the fearling. It hit him square in the face momentarily stunning him. That moment was all North needed to get in range of it and cutting it in half.

He took a moment to catch his breath and soon he was ready was once again to proceed down the tunnel. But before he could take a single step several gallop sounds approached him from both sides of the tunnel and before he even knew he was trapped in between two large groups of fearlings.

North pondered calling in some of his yetis to help him but quickly dismissed the idea due to the narrowness of the tunnel making it only more difficult to move. He would have to fight alone through both the groups as quickly as he could so that more fearlings wouldn't join the fight.

And after that he would have to find Tooth… wherever she was before something happened to the others.

Even thought something in the back of his mind kept telling him that something might've already- something bad.


	7. Together At Last

Together At Last

(Chapter 7)

After 15 minutes of walking Jack's group was sure that their path would lead them to Pitch. This became apparent after walking for nearly 10 minutes and not finding any adjacent paths to go through. It's not that they couldn't see them but they were all blocked off by insane amounts of unmoving black sand.

That meant either of 2 things. Either Pitch was a terrible cleaner or he was leading them somewhere. They were more inclined toward the later. And where he was leading them to? Well… they were about to find out.

In the distance, they were able to spot a wooden door right in their path. They hurried their pace and quickly reached the door. It didn't look like anything special but it also didn't let the group see what was behind it without them opening it first.

Jack looked back at Bunny and Sandy and received a nod from the both of them. He took a deep breath and grasped the door's handle and slowly opening the door. As Jack pushed it open, all three tried to look at was on the other side. Unfortunately, all they could see was darkness.

"Did Pitch skip out on the electrical bill? Why is it so dark here?" Bunny asked.

Suddenly the whole room lit up, momentarily blinding the three and forcing them to cover their eyes. Once their eyes got adjust they took another look at the room before going in. The room was almost completely similar to the first one except for a few small mounds of black sand spread throughout the room and what seemed to be an empty throne in the back of the room.

"Is that better?" A voice the three were very familiar with asked. The voice echoed all around them, making it impossible to hear where it came from.

"PITCH" Bunny called. "Where are you? Show yourself"

"Watch your manners you're a guest here remember?" Pitch asked.

"Don't toy with us Pitch. Where is Tooth?" Jack asked.

"Still searching for her, Jack? Is it because she's a Guardian? Or do you still think she loves you?" Pitch asked.

"You were the one that made her call me a monster" Jack accused. Bunny and Sandy were fuming at this point. Jack had left out this detail during his story and could very well guess how painful it must have been for Jack to be called a monster, by Tooth no less.

"Like I told you before, the fear and disgust were already there. I merely gave her a push in the right direction" He said. "But if you still want her then don't worry your jolly old friend is very close to finding her"

Immediately, a wave of relief swept over the three followed by one of fear. "How do you know where North is?" Bunny asked.

"Because this is my lair, I know where everyone is in here" Pitch said, stepping out from behind the throne with Father Time's cane in his hand. "… As well as my pets of course"

The fear they were feeling for North came back more intense than ever but the three did their best to hide it. North could take care of himself. Besides, they had their own problems now.

"Remember guys, follow the plan" Jack said.

"This'll be easy" Bunny said. Bunny had plenty of reasons to be that confident. All they had to do was stay away from Pitch and attack him from afar. Since the room was very spacious, Jack and Sandy could easily fly away from him and there was no way Pitch could ever keep up with his speed.

"Let's hope so" Jack said. Sandy nodded in agreement and all three of them assumed their fighting stances. Hoping to catch Pitch by surprise, Bunny threw one of his boomerangs at Pitch as hard as he could. Since the boomerang was flying at an incredible speed and Pitch still hadn't made a move to dodge or block, Bunny was confident he would be able to land a good hit.

…He was wrong.

In a flash, Pitch turned the cane in his hand into a scythe and cut the boomerang in half. Both halves fell to the floor besides Pitch as he propped the scythe against his shoulder, smirking.

"Okay" Bunny said. "Maybe it won't be easy"

* * *

On the other side of Pitch's hideout, North was slowing walking further into the passageway where the fearlings he had just defeated had come from. The reason for his slow pace was plainly obvious since the cuts and bruises he had all over his body were easy to spot. Especially the deep gash he had on his forehead from which blood was pouring out and incredibly dark bruise on his left leg, marking the spot in which the bone was probably broken.

This did not stop his quest to find the missing member of the Guardians. Even if he had to limp and lean on a wall until he found her, he would not give up. Coincidentally, this was exactly what he was doing.

It had been over 5 minutes ago when North had finally finished fighting through the hordes of fearlings in his way and afterwards resumed his search for Tooth not having stopped once to catch his breath since then. Luckily for him, the path hadn't separated once, meaning that he was probably going the right way.

His breathing was ragged and his vision was blurry. But that didn't stop him from keeping searching. And it certainly didn't stop him from spotting…

'A door?' He asked inwardly, stopping in his tracks. Unlike the other doors he had encountered before this one wasn't on one of the sides of the tunnel, instead it was blocking his path. And also unlike the others, this one seemed to be relatively new.

He hadn't seen any other doors on his way here so behind the door could only be one of two things: Either it was a dead end with nobody inside of it and this had been planned all along to slow him down or Tooth was behind there.

He limped his way towards the door and rested his hand on the handle. He took a second to catch his breath and then pushed open the door.

What he saw almost made him throw up.

The room was smaller than the one they arrived but it was still big enough to fit all the yetis he had brought in with his snow globes. But the part that really caught his attention was what was inside the room. There were several contraptions riddled with spikes and blades along with a vast collection of whips and knives on the walls.

In other words, he had just found the torture room.

Like the entrance, most of the … 'furniture' inside the room seemed new, meaning that Pitch must have gotten them for a purpose. Ignoring the voice in the back of his head that told him to get of there as fast as he could, he delved deeper inside the room.

Part of him wished that he wouldn't find Tooth there for fear of what Pitch could have done to her but he knew that the sooner he found her, the better. He wished that for the first time that day he would have some luck and find Tooth uninjured.

Fortunately, his prayers were answered.

In the darkest part of the room, was Tooth, both chained and unarmed. North immediately ran or limped, rather, towards her as fast as he could. Upon closer inspection, he noted that she was either unconscious or asleep. He took a look around and spotted a set of keys on the other side of the room on a table.

He figured that maybe he and the Guardians arrived earlier than what Pitch had expected and therefore didn't have time to do anything to Tooth.

He retrieved the keys and after a trying a couple of them, he finally found the right one and freed Tooth. He, with much effort, carried her to the one table that wasn't used for torture and lied her down on top. Afterwards he attempted to wake her up.

She stirred in her sleep and slowly opened her eyes. They were blurry at first but soon they adjust and could finally see who was right next to her. She recognized North and immediately sat up so that she could hug him. She started to cry.

North returned the hug while whispering comforting words to her. Her loud sobs filled the room as she let out all of her tears. After a while, her sobs started to become quieter until they eventually stopped. Tooth broke the hug and cleaned her face from a few remaining tears with her hand.

"T-thank you" Her voice was barely inaudible, almost like a whisper, probably so that nobody else could hear her.

"No need thank me, you're important to all of us" He reassured. "Especially Jack"

Hearing Jack's name only worsened her mood as she remembered when Pitch showed her yelling at Jack and calling him a monster. "I doubt it" She said.

"Why do you say that? Jack loves you, you know that" North said. Tooth's word made North frown. Of course she was important to Jack, she of all people should know that.

"Not after I called him a monster, he doesn't" She insisted, making North's frown deepen. Why would Tooth call Jack a monster? North had never seen love as strong as theirs so what could make her call Jack such a thing.

"Jack didn't say anything about that but if you saw how worried he was for you, you wouldn't be able to say that he didn't love you" North explained, trying to lift Tooth's mood. Unfortunately, it had an almost opposite effect.

"But how can he love me? He hates having people think he's a monster, that's why he hid it from us in the first place" She explained as she started crying once more. "Pitch even said that he didn't even bother asking about me when you fought him right after he showed me calling him a monster"

"That's because I asked first" North explained. "Besides, you can't believe what Pitch says. I bet he fed you nothing but lies"

"No, he didn't" She said, lowering her gaze so that he wasn't looking at North's eyes. "After he showed me that, I started to remember the exact same things"

"Tooth" North called, having enough of her depressing attitude. He put a hand under her chin and slowly lifted it so that he staring her in the eyes once more. "Jack could never hate you, just as you could never truly think of him as a monster. Fear is not our enemy and fear doesn't make us weak, rather, it shows us what our weaknesses are. Do you feel weak when you're around Jack?"

"N-no, I don't" She smiled. "When I'm with Jack, I feel safe, like no one could ever hurt me while I'm in his arms"

"Something that makes you stronger like that, could never be feared" North finished.

"Then how was Pitch able to control me if I'm not afraid of Jack?" Tooth asked.

"Tooth… That was probably fear for death itself, we Guardians and all the spirits alike have already faced death once but we got a second chance. Having been separated from the people we once cared for hurt all of us. We don't want to have to go through that again and that's why we fear Death" North explained. "Pitch probably used that fear and turned it against Jack. So you might think that you're afraid of Jack, but if you look inside yourself you'll realize that you love him more than you ever imagined"

Tooth stared at North in awe as he finished his speech. She closed her eyes and remember every moment she had spent with Jack. She smiled and slowly opened her eyes as she realized what North said was true. She once again wiped her face clear of any tears and climbed off the table so that she could stand on her own feet.

"Thank you, North. I shouldn't have doubted myself" She thanked before moving to North's side and putting his arm back around her neck and placing it on her shoulder, confusing him.

"Wha-"

"You're hurt, right? I'll help you" She said, still smiling.

North smiled back and thanked her as the two of them started walking towards the place where their friends were fighting Pitch. Their pace was slow due to North's injury but that didn't matter to Tooth. All she wanted to do was help Jack and her friends who were currently fight as hard as they could to save her and she'd be dammed if one of them died because of her.

* * *

30 minutes have passed since Jack, Bunny and Sandy engaged Pitch and since then the results of their fight have not been good. The three Guardians were currently spread out throughout the room and around Pitch in a triangle.

They're job was to stall Pitch long enough so that North could rescue Tooth and then they would all work together to finally take down Pitch. So they were also hoping that they could tire Pitch out, even if just little.

This was harder than they expected.

After Bunny threw his first boomerang at Pitch just for him to cut it in half, Pitch moved to the center of the room and since then he had been blocking, deflecting or cutting through each of their attacks with only the scythe. He hadn't even broken a sweat while the three Guardians seemed ready to pass out from exhaustion. That was proven when Bunny tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor.

"I think this game is getting boring, don't you? Maybe it's about time I ended it" Pitch said as he sadistically eyed the Guardian of Hope. He finally moved from his position in the center of the room as he took off in Bunny's direction at mach speed.

Before he could Bunny however, Jack made a thick wall of ice between them in hopes of giving Bunny enough time to get back on his feet before Pitch could get to him. His plan succeeded and Bunny was able to get up and get some distance between himself and Pitch.

Jack let out sigh of relief. Unfortunately, at the moment he did he lowered his guard for enough time for Pitch to change his direction and run even faster toward Jack. If possible, his sadistic smile became even bigger as he got in range to attack Jack with his scythe.

"You're mine now, Jack" Pitch said. Jack put his staff between himself and Pitch and closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable to come.

Except it never did.

"No, he's mine" A female voice called from the side. Pitch turned his head to the side to try and see who the voice belonged to, but was only met with a kick. The kick was strong enough to throw Pitch off his feet and send him across the room.

Jack slowly opened his eyes to see feathers and a rainbow. He had finally found his one and true love.

"TOOTH"


	8. Fireworks

Fireworks

(Chapter 8)

"TOOTH" Jack, Bunny and Sandy called. Tooth turned to Jack and showed him a warm smile along with some tears of happiness. They ran to each other and joined in a hug.

Jack wanted to cry, he really did. He wanted to let go and cry away all the pain he went through while he was worried for her, but he couldn't. Not right now at least. There was still Pitch they had to worry about.

"Tooth, where's North?" Jack asked.

"He got hurt on his way to rescue me. He's resting near here" She explained. "After we deal with Pitch we can go get him"

They backed away from each other and turned to the others who were smiling back at them. Bunny and Sandy walked towards the couple and hugged Tooth.

"About time you came back, Jack's worrying was driving me crazy" Bunny joked, making Jack blush. Tooth turned to Sandy who gave her a nod agreeing with Bunny, making Tooth giggle.

"Thank you for saving me. I owe you guys a lot" She thanked.

"You don't owe us anything Tooth, you would have done the same thing if any of us were in trouble" Jack reassured. Tooth turned around and where he thought he would find a smile instead he found guilt.

"Jack… What I sa-"

"Tooth, forget about it" He interrupted. She didn't need to finish her sentence for Jack to understand what she was going to say. She was going to apologize for calling him a monster. But there wasn't anything to forgive her for, it wasn't her fault. "I love you and I know you love me too, that's all that matters"

Tooth couldn't be happier. She didn't think she deserved to be forgiven by Jack as quickly as she was but by looking into his eyes she saw that he was serious and that he really didn't care about what happened. She didn't think it was possible but to her it seemed like she loved him even more now than ever before. With her eyes closed and her arms around his neck, she slowly leaned in to kiss him.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by Pitch, reminding them of his existence. Turns out he really hates being ignored.

A slow clapping draws the Guardians' attention to Pitch. You'd think that losing his hostage would make Pitch at least a little nervous or make him sweat a little. Instead he showed the Guardians an incredibly sadistic smile while he clapped.

"Congratulations Jack. Your fat friend managed to battle his way through my hordes of fearlings and get your prize for you" Pitch said. "Too bad you won't live long enough to enjoy it"

"Jack…that scythe… is it…" She started, whispering.

"Yeah, it's the same as mine. Whatever you do, don't let the blade touch you" He whispered back.

"But what do we do now?" Bunny asked, also whispering. "North's hurt so I don't think we'll be able to run away and attacking him from far away has done nothing but exhaust us, we need a new plan"

"I know, I know. I just need some time to think of one" Jack whispered. "For now, let's keep attacking from a far, I'll think of something"

While this exchange was happening, Pitch kept silent. He knew they were coming up with a plan, but it didn't matter. As long as they were in his lair, they wouldn't be able to escape. And Jack would never let his precious Tooth put herself in danger, meaning that their only option was to keep attacking him from a distance, which, as previously established, it wouldn't work.

Seeing as that was their only choice, Jack, Bunny and Sandy took their places around Pitch once more while Tooth took to the skies determined to help any of the three just in case.

Once again, the three on the ground attempted to hit Pitch with ice, golden sand, boomerangs and egg bombs. Every time Pitch dodged, blocked or deflected the attacks. From time to time, Pitch would actually attempt to attack one of the Guardians. Only for them to either dodge or for Tooth to help them by attacking Pitch in his blind spot.

It seemed like nothing had changed from a few minutes ago. The Guardians looked like they were ready to fall over and pass out while Pitch still seemed to be in perfect condition. Even Tooth's breathing seemed somewhat erratic. It seemed that Pitch wouldn't slow down anytime soon.

But that's when it happened…

To the others it didn't seem like much, but to Jack was different. For the first time Pitch had to use his black sand to stop one of Jack's ice blasts. He couldn't tell earlier but it actually seemed to be panting a bit.

But why did his condition suddenly change? Maybe because the scythe wasn't really Pitch's to wield? Jack didn't really care. What mattered was that they were tiring Pitch out and that their plan was working. Well…Not really. Sure Pitch was getting tired, but by the time he would actually start breaking a sweat, he and the others would be knocked out cold. So for now Jack would wait to see if something else happened.

While he kept attacking, Jack made sure to keep an eye on Pitch's movements, hoping to see the rate at which Pitch's exhaustion was progressing. Instead he caught sight of something much more interesting.

Sandy had shot another arrow from his crossbow made of his sand at Pitch, at which he proceeded to use his left hand to turn it into black sand as soon as he touched it. Next, Bunny threw 2 egg bombs at Pitch followed by his boomerang. Pitch swatted the eggs away and blocked the boomerang, making it return to Bunny.

Every time either Sandy or Bunny attacked, Pitch would always defend the same way. Thinking that maybe Pitch might have fallen into a pattern, Jack decided to attack as well. Every once in a while Jack would throw in an attack and sure enough he would always protect himself using his black sand.

It seemed that Pitch was trying to keep the usage of the scythe to a bare minimum. Jack thought back to his theory. Maybe MIM had implemented a countermeasure in the scythes to prevent other people from using them except for their real owners.

Since Pitch could easily turn golden sand into black sand, he had a constant source of sand to block Jack's ice. Bunny's boomerangs are strong enough to go through most of Pitch's barriers and his egg bombs caused a explosion powerful enough to blow them up, leaving Pitch with only one option.

'He has to use the scythe' Jack mentally finished. If they could force Pitch to keep using the scythe, it would eventually tire him out, hopefully before they collapsed.

There was still one problem though. Only Bunny could get Pitch to use the scythe and unfortunately he was probably the most tired of them all due to his constant running to keep his distance from Pitch. This meant that Jack would have to find a way so that either him or Sandy could force Pitch also his use his scythe.

Luckily Jack already had a plan. And all he needed to do was trick Pitch. And as everybody knows, Jack as always been a trickster.

Jack's chance came when Sandy took another shot at Pitch with his crossbow. When Pitch raised his hand to blacken the sand as soon as he touched it was when Jack made his move. He fired another ice blast and as he predicted Pitch immediately raised a wall of black sand to protect him. However Jack wasn't aiming at Pitch he was aiming at Sandy's bolts. The attack passed right beside Pitch, confusing him and the other Guardians.

"What's wrong Jack? Are you so tired you can't see straight anymore?" Pitch taunted.

"I don't know what you're talking about, my aim is as good as ever" Jack shrugged before showing Pitch a smirk. Pitch looked back to where Jack's attack was heading just in time to see that the ice had covered Sandy's bolt and that it was still heading for Pitch. Pitch immediately dove to the side to avoid the bolt but it still managed to make a cut in his arm.

The other Guardians couldn't believe that they had finally managed to land a hit on Pitch. The pain that Pitch felt from the bolt was magnified from the coldness provided from the ice surrounding it. The other Guardians finally noticed the erratic breathing coming from Pitch which only served to raise their hopes even more.

"Sandy" Jack called. The small Guardian looked away from Pitch's form clutching his arm in pain and looked to the side to see Jack. "Bunny! Tooth! Come here"

"What is it Jack?" Tooth asked as she and Bunny approached him and Sandy.

"I have plan" Jack declared. That single statement was enough to draw bright smiles from the others. "You might not have noticed but Pitch has been using the scythe less than before, I think using it might be exhausting him"

"So we have to force him to use the scythe" Bunny concluded. "That just might work"

"Here Sandy…" Jack focused and his hands started to glow. The temperature near him dropped and the floor started to freeze. After a while, the temperature returned to normal and Jack's hands stopped glowing. The Guardians stared at his hands and found arrows completely made of ice. "…Use these. He shouldn't be able to use his sand to block them"

Sandy eyed the arrows for a second before turning his crossbow into a normal bow and making a quiver in which he put the arrows. Bunny and Sandy gave Jack a nod and repositioned themselves around a slowly rising Pitch.

"What about me, Jack?" Tooth asked. Jack closed his eyes and thought of a way for Tooth to help them. It didn't take long for him to come up with an answer. And to Tooth's confusion that answer came in the form of… snowballs?

"How's your aim?" Jack asked. Her smirk was more than enough to answer him.

* * *

Meanwhile, North was sitting with his back against one of the walls of the tunnel that lead to Pitch. Truth be told, he would have preferred to be fighting along with his comrades instead of doing nothing. But Tooth insisted that he should rest and let her and the others handle Pitch. It's not that he didn't trust her or the others but he would feel much more relieved if he could at least keep an eye on them.

But one thing you learn about being a Guardian after a while is to never, ever make the Tooth Fairy angry. Even Pitch couldn't deny he felt a little scared of her after she punched one of his teeth out.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard footsteps coming towards him from the opposite direction where Pitch and his friends were fighting. From the sound of it, whoever or whatever was coming walked on two feet, meaning that it couldn't be one of Pitch's fearlings. A person maybe? If that was the case then things had just become a whole lot harder.

Luckily that theory was proven wrong just as the mysterious figure came into view.

"Finally, I looked everywhere for this place" The figure said. North knew who this was and that made him feel a whole lot relieved. He might not trust the figure completely but Jack said she was okay.

"It's about time"

* * *

Back with Jack and the others. For the first time since the beginning of the fight, the Guardians had the upper hand. Just like Jack predicted, both Bunny and Sandy were able to bypass Pitch's black sand and force him to either dodge or block using the scythe.

Despite not being able to make Pitch use the scythe, that didn't mean that Jack and Tooth were useless. Apparently Tooth had quite the throwing arm and managed to hit Pitch with a snowball most of the times. But they weren't really snowballs as they were actually made of ice instead of snow. Meanwhile Jack kept on throwing attacks at Pitch attempting to catch him of guard.

While the couple wasn't able to do much damage, they did succeed in distracting him long enough for either Bunny or Sandy to hit him. Instead of just having one cut, Pitch's body was now covered with them from head to toe. Pitch no longer appeared to be in better condition than the Guardians but instead it seemed like they were somewhat on par in terms of exhaustion.

It looked like one mistake could cause either of the sides to lose the battle. And it seemed that it was Pitch that was going to make that mistake.

Jack threw another ice blast at Pitch's back, to which he responded by using the little black sand that wasn't already frozen to make a wall behind him. Just like every other wall, this one was also frozen upon contact with Jack's attack. Pitch didn't have time to worry about his now nonexistent supply of black sand as he spotted something coming at him from the corner of his eye.

He didn't have time to think of a plan so he decided to jump back to avoid the projectile. Unfortunately for Pitch, in his panic he had completely forgotten about the wall behind him made of frozen sand. The collision against the wall knocked the air out of him but he was still conscious. It also turned out that what Pitch had seen was another ball of ice that was coming for his head.

Pitch noticed Bunny ready to throw his boomerang at him and he knew that he needed to get away from the wall so that he would have better maneuverability. However, when he made an attempt to get away from the wall he noticed that something was tugging at the sleeves of his robes. He turned to look at what it was and saw that 4 ice arrows- 2 for each sleeve- were pinning his robe against the wall. He attempted to pry the arrows out of the wall, but by the time he did it was already too late and the boomerang hit him right in the forehead.

The Guardians saw Pitch slump to the ground and seemingly fall into unconsciousness. But the Guardians knew better than to believe that Pitch was already defeated. The 4 of them slowly approached Pitch to check on him. Jack immediately looked at the dropped scythe and attempted to retrieve it. As he was about to touch it, all 4 of them noticed Pitch quickly clutching the scythe. They all jumped back nearly avoiding getting slashed by Pitch.

"Don't think this is over just yet" Pitch said as he slowly rose back up to his feet. "If I'm going back to that hole in the ground then I'LL JUST HAVE TO MAKE SURE I AT LEAST KILL ONE OF YOU BEFORE THAT HAPPENS"

With that, Pitch chased after the 4 Guardians while swinging around the scythe like crazy. The group of 4 split into 2 groups of 2 and dodge ran in opposite directions to avoid Pitch. Bunny and Sandy ran to the left while Jack and Tooth ran to the right. Needless to say, Pitch went after the second group.

As Jack and Tooth were about to take flight to try and put some distance between them and Pitch, Tooth tripped and fell to the ground. Jack was already in the air but when he heard Tooth falling, he looked back at her and was going to help her. Tooth quickly glanced back and immediately paled as she saw Pitch looming over her with the reeled back and ready to split her in half.

"Time to die fairy" Pitch said sadistically.

"That's not for you to decide" Said someone from the side. Pitch looked to where the voice came from only to meet, yet another, kick to his face, making fly, yet again, across the room. Pitch doesn't seem to have much luck when it comes to delivering a finishing blow. The Guardians looked at the one of saved Tooth and saw the last person they expected.

"CLARA" Jack called the cloaked figure.

Pitch also didn't seem to have any luck with women either.

"Jack, who's this?" Tooth asked as both Jack and Clara helped her up. In response to her question Clara simply lowered her hood and showed Tooth who she was. And as she expected, Tooth immediately looked like she wanted to tear her a new one.

"Tooth, she's here to help us" Jack reassured. However, thinking she might be allied with Pitch wasn't her reason for hating her. Fortunately, Jack had already predicted that. "What happened at the party was a misunderstanding, I'll explain later with her permission of course. She's our friend"

While he was talking to her, he moved his hand near hers and gently squeezed it. "Okay" Tooth agreed.

"Glad you're all still alive" Clara said.

"Yeah, we're glad we're still alive too" Jack joked. "Did you find a way to help us?"

"Yes, I did. Watch" She said. She started to walk casually towards Pitch, who was now standing up.

"What are you doing? I thought you couldn't fight somebody who had one of the scythes" Pitch asked.

"And I didn't. You're not the real owner of that scythe so I can hit you just as many times I want" She said, cracking her knuckles. Pitch clutched the scythe tighter and prepared himself for any attack Clara could throw.

She stopped right in front of him as they both tried to glare holes through the other. The suspense was unimaginable and the atmosphere in the room was so tense you could cut it. No one dared to make a sound as they waited for one of the two to make a move. And that move finally came… as Clara head butted Pitch right in the nose.

Pitch dropped the scythe and fell to the ground, clutching his nose. Clara merely bent down to pick the scythe and started walking back to the Guardians, whose jaws had almost hit the floor as they replayed the scene again in their heads.

"What?" Clara asked like nothing special had just happened.

"That was your plan that you came up to help us?" Bunny asked, not believing what he had just seen. Just then Clara summoned her scythe from seemingly nowhere and both scythes started to glow- Clara's a faint blue while the other glowed red.

"Actually, I asked MIM to let me take the souls from the scythe without Pitch's permission so that Jack could destroy it afterwards. All I needed to do was touch Pitch, I just didn't expect him to go down in one hit" She answered, while she absentmindedly placed the souls in her own scythe.

"YOU DARE MOCK ME" Pitch screamed as he finally got up. His nose seemed to be broken but the look of pure hatred in his eyes seemed to divert attention from it. He lunged at Clara who stood in place, looking at him with a bored expression. Even as Pitch got closer and closer, Clara still did not move and simply watched him. Jack, Bunny and Sandy were waiting to see what her plan was, not noticing Tooth walking towards Clara.

Just as Pitch was a couple of few away from Clara, a punch from Tooth made him collide face first against the floor, making more than a few of his teeth to come loose. "That's for ruining our date" Was all she said before walking back to Jack. The three males just stood with wide eyes and jaws dropped as their biggest enemy was defeated in two hits by the two scariest women they had ever seen.

"And I guess that's it. Good job guys" Clara complimented.

"So what do we do with Pitch?" Jack asked, being the first one to snap out of his trance. Clara merely turned to Pitch and waved he hand at him. Pitch started to glow a faint green and disappeared right in front of their eyes.

"There, maybe this time he stay in that hole for longer than a year and not cause any trouble" Clara said. "And don't worry. I'll make sure to give the scythe back to Father Time"

"Thanks for everything Clara, we couldn't have done it without you" Jack thanked.

"Yeah, you really helped us out Dea- I mean, Clara" Bunny quickly corrected himself.

"Don't sweat it" Clara reassured. She started walking towards the exit but stopped right in front of it. "Oh, and Jack?"

"Yes?" Jack asked.

"I already checked with North. See you at the party" Clara said before finally exiting the room. The male Guardians stood frozen in place, partially due to surprise from Clara's statement but mostly because of Tooth's expression. Although she seemed to be smiling sweetly at Jack, the other three knew better than that. Bunny and Sandy sent Jack an apologetic look, before quickly doing the same as Clara and exiting the room.

"So Jack…" She started, still smiling sweetly. Jack felt a shiver run up his spine at the seemingly innocent tone of voice she used. Tooth got closer to Jack while her smile got even bigger, making Jack break in cold sweat. "…when did you start calling her by her name?"

Jack laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "I-it's a long story, I-I'll tell you later" Jack said before deciding to make a run for the exit. Before he could move though, Tooth grabbed his arm and pulled on it until he was looking at her. She then placed her arms around his neck and pressed her lips into his. Jack didn't have time to kiss back as she almost immediately broke the kiss just to tease him.

"We'll have time for that later, we should go check on North" She said, pulling Jack along with her to towards the exit. A little further along the tunnel they saw Bunny, Sandy, North and all the yetis waiting for them. The two smaller Guardians were helping North stand while the yetis were standing behind them.

"About time you two showed up" Bunny said.

"Sorry about that" Jack apologized. "How are you, North?"

"I've been better, but a good night's rest should help" North joked. We all made our way to the room where we first came in and North pulled another snow globe. He whispered the place where he wanted the portal to lead to and threw it. A portal leading back to North's workshop appeared and the yetis went through it. With the yetis gone, Sandy made a platform under him and the other Guardians and raised it through the passage that lead to the outside. Once there, Bunny and Sandy placed North in the front of his sleigh.

"Okay everybody, tonight we rest and tomorrow we party" North said.

"Sounds good to me mate. See you guys then" Bunny agreed and then tapped the floor twice with foot, opening a tunnel to the warren and jumping into it.

Sandy simply waved them goodbye and formed his familiar plane made of golden sand before flying away.

"Hey North? You wouldn't happen to have a spare snow globe would you?" Jack asked.

"Of course I do. Here" North answered, handing him the snow globe. "And now I will take my leave" He said, before flying away in his sleigh.

"You up for a little trip Tooth?" Jack asked.

"Where?" Tooth asked. Jack whispered something too quietly for her to hear and threw the snow globe. As soon as the portal opened up, Tooth immediately realized what Jack was planning and smiled at him. Jack offered her his arm and she gladly took it before the two of them passed through the portal.

* * *

"Last stop, France… again" Jack announced.

"So, we're here again… Why exactly?" She asked, remembering what had happened there.

"You told me yourself, you haven't seen fireworks before and this is the last day they'll be showing them" Jack answered. They landed on top of a building and sat down at the edge of it, they had a clear view of the Eiffel tower. "When Pitch took you, I made a promise"

"A promise?" She asked.

"Yes" He answered. "I promised that I would bring you back and show you these fireworks"

Tooth, who was still hugging his arm, started crying. Crying tears of happiness because of the person that would sacrifice everything he had just for her, the same one that called him a monster. She was going to start apologizing frantically for what she had called him at the time and beg for forgiveness, when he put his hand under her chin and lifted her head so that she could look at her eyes. Before she could open her mouth to say anything he crashed his lips against hers. He tried conveying all his love for her through the kiss as she started kissing him back. After a while, the two had to break the kiss for air and settled for looking at the other's eyes.

"I know what you were going to say. It's already behind us so let's just forget about it, okay?" He asked, showing her his trademark smile. Tooth decided that he was right. He didn't care about what had happened, he just wanted to move on and share many happy moments with her. She smiled back at him and nodded. They both turned back towards the Eiffel tower once more just in time to see the first fireworks being shot into the sky. Tooth rested her head on Jacks shoulder while he placed his arm around her and brought her closer to him just as the fireworks exploded beautifully in the night sky.

"So I guess this means that our first date was success, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess it was" He answered.

"I love you" The both said simultaneously.

**The End**


End file.
